A migrant worker from Hunan Province, Luo Chun Li is a strike veteran at the age of 26 in a country where strikes are illegal. When I meet her, she is shepherding a group of women through the door of a Shenzhen migrant workers' centre, stuffing leaflets into their handbags to distribute at hospital casualty units. She eyes the street warily: the centre has been trashed twice in six months by men with iron bars. In the back, weary workers are killing a rainy Saturday afternoon leafing through novellas from the centre's penny library.

This is what the new Chinese labour movement looks like: lacking money, security and post-school education, these young, female volunteers are part of a huge change in the country's workforce. To anybody who witnessed worker militancy in Britain in the 1970s, all this will be familiar. There's a labour shortage; wages are rising; factories are closing because of rising costs; there are overtime disputes, unpaid wage disputes, and above all strikes: at least one per day involves a thousand workers, according to official figures.

Last November's strike at the Alco electronics factory in the southern province of Guangdong, sparked by rising food prices, was typical. With food inflation at 23 per cent, the management wanted to double the amount taken from wages for the three meals a day the workers eat in the canteen.

What happened next is documented in a collection of digital photographs shot by the strikers. They streamed into the avenue outside the plant and blocked it. It was peaceful until the riot police arrived, some in blue, some in camouflage, many with Alsatian dogs. The photos tell the story of baton charges and arrests, though they survived for only a few hours on the Chinese internet.

When I arrived at Alco to find out what had become of the strikers, there were police on every corner--and this was early Sunday morning. Speaking to them in public as a western journalist was out of the question; my Chinese researcher quizzed a few of them down back alleys as they came and went. I learned how the strike had been resolved: management backed down and the workers returned. In other words, they won.

This is the new pattern of Chinese labour disputes. They are spontaneous and solid. The strikers block the streets. The police move in, but so do Communist officials. In 2006 President Hu Jintao ordered them to stop treating all strikes as a threat to social order and to mediate instead of cracking down.

Decoupling industrial relations from the wider issues of political legitimacy and protest in China means the workers' movement, for now, is not going to be a driver for political democracy. But it has left the official workers' institutions looking antiquated.

Party leaders ordered the state-run trade union federation to start organising among this non-core workforce. Then, after much consultation, they passed the Contract Labour Law, which came into force on 1 January 2008.

The results have been spectacular. According to the local chamber of commerce, roughly 10,000 small factories have closed in the space of three months. It wasn't just that their owners didn't like the idea of collective consultation; they disliked the idea of the workers having the right to redundancy pay if laid off after long service.

Others have simply tried to get around the rules. A couple called the Cuis wander into the migrant workers' centre perplexed: in their late thirties and from Sichuan, they have worked in the same factory for nine years. Now managers at the Shin Dar electronics company, which makes headsets for LG, have requested all the long-service workers like the Cuis to "retire".

A generational change is happening, says Huang Qingnan, who founded the migrant centre in 2003 with money awarded to him after a factory fire burned off most of his face. Late last year he was hospitalised again, after his attempts to help a worker collect back pay led to a knife attack that nearly killed him.

JPEGF

"We've seen a big change of attitude. Workers like me, in their thirties and forties, would come straight off the farm. If they were ripped off they'd keep their mouths shut. But the generation of migrants born in the 1980s are different. They saw others coming home well dressed, looking better off. They thought that as a factory worker you make loads of money. When they find out the reality they will not put up with it. They quit the sweatshops and move to Shanghai."

This month, as migrant workers began to return to the factory districts after their annual New Year holiday, it became clear they were voting with their feet. The Guangdong Province labour ministry confirmed what bosses already knew: around one in ten migrants has not returned after the spring break, and for every seven jobs at local hiring fairs, there are just four workers.

Like all labour activists in China, Huang knows how violent and irrational strikes can become. He generally tries to head them off. But, he warns, "There is no law that says you have to go to work." The Chinese working class has moved about as far as the UK factory workforce moved in the 20 years between the banning of trade unions in 1799 and the Peterloo demonstration of 1819.

And although they have no inkling of this parallel, the words of the man who immortalised that time in poetry are present, crossing centuries and continents. As I leave, Luo hands me a copy of the centre's bulletin. She points to the headline and translates. It is a line from Shelley, reduced to its essence in Mandarin: "After cold winter, spring certainly comes."

"The Workforce That Changed the World", broadcast 7 March on BBC2's Newsnight, is also available on the BBC iPlayer

http://www.maple3.com/2008/08/06/protest-against-deforestation-in-indonesia/

During the protest,the Greenpeace activists donned masks and “armed� themselves with mock chainsaws. They positioned themselves outside the Forestry Ministry to urge the Indonesian government to stop deforestation.

Hm… the activists do remind me of the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Deforestation in Indonesia is so widespread that around 300 football fields of trees in Indonesia are destroyed every hour due to illegal logging, mining and slash-and-burn land clearing for highly profitable palm oil plantations.

According to a newspaper report form 2007, Greenpeace has cited that Indonesia had become the third largest carbon emitter in the world after the U.S. and China, due to the destruction of its peatlands and forests.

The effect of deforestation in Indoneisa can also be felt by its neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Singapore in the form of haze. These haze contains pollutants and dusts particles which are harmful to health and may trigger asthma attacks.

Hopefully, the Greenpeace protests can send a strong message to the government body regarding the seriousness of this matter.

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1318360/2049798

Hindus in Indian Kashmir called off their two-month protest after the government allowed them temporary use of land at the centre of a religious row for an annual pilgrimage, officials said.

At least 38 people have been killed so far and more than 1,000 wounded in violence in Jammu and Kashmir, pitting Hindus in Jammu against Muslims in the Kashmir valley, the two main regions that make up the state.

The dispute began over a piece of forest land near a Hindu shrine, but snowballed into some of the biggest pro-independence demonstrations in Muslim-majority Kashmir since a revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989.

Authorities re-imposed a curfew in many areas of Kashmir after briefly relaxing it earlier in the day, as protesters clashed with police in Srinagar, the summer capital.

Six people were wounded when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells and used batons to disperse demonstrators.

Indian troops have been criticised by Kashmiris and international human rights groups for using excessive force, as several rounds of talks with protesters on either side failed.

On Sunday, officials and Hindu protesters agreed to use the disputed forest land to build temporary shelters, ending protests in Jammu city.

"We are temporarily suspending our strike," Leela Karan Sharma, a Hindu protest leader said, as Hindus burst fire crackers in the streets to celebrate the agreement.

But authorities imposed a curfew in Jammu city to prevent any retaliatory violence and more rallies.

"We reject the deal between Hindu hardliners and the puppet government of Kashmir," Masarat Alam, joint spokesman for the separatist groups said in Srinagar. "We appeal to people to continue peaceful protests."

Cave shrine

The dispute began in June after the state government promised to give forest land to a trust that runs Amarnath, a cave shrine visited by Hindu pilgrims to pray by an ice stalagmite.

Muslims were enraged at the decision, forcing the government to change its mind as the People's Democratic Party (PDP), a key partner in Kashmir's ruling coalition withdrew support from the Congress party-led state government.

Hindus in Jammu, angered by the government U-turn, attacked lorries carrying supplies to the Kashmir Valley and blocked the region's highway.

Challenging the blockade, Muslims took to the streets in Kashmir and clashed with police as separatists united to launch some of the biggest pro-independence demonstrations in Kashmir.

In the past three weeks, Indian police shot dead at least 30 protesters and more than 600 were wounded in clashes, as authorities struggled to restore law and order.

Several thousand Islamists rallied in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Sunday to protest over Indian forces' alleged excesses and to express solidarity with Kashmiri Muslims.

They were scheduled to rally later in neighbouring Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

The crisis has strained relations between India and Pakistan, which both claim the region in full but rule in parts, damaging a tentative peace process and raising fears Kashmir could again become a hotspot between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

India has also intensified a crackdown against separatists and detained at least five separatist leaders, including a top woman leader in an effort to defuse protests.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Kashmir since the armed revolt against New Delhi's rule broke out in 1989.

China was ready for the feminists of the world. Taxi drivers were advised not to pick up any naked females who might try to flag them down. Hotels were issued cloaks to throw over the legions of strippers who were expected to arrive. Security guards, many of them fresh from the farm, were issued bug spray so that they wouldn't catch insect-borne AIDS from visiting lesbians. Welcome to China. ladies.

Delegates to the unofficial women's forum, which opened last week, knew they were in for a hard time. "We're expecting bad conditions-no work space, no computers," Isabel Stramwasser, a Canadian delegate, said before the conference began. "But we're also expecting 40,000 women who've gone through hell and high water to get there." As it turned out, there were plenty of difficulties at the conference site in Huairou, 90 minutes outside Beijing (when the promised buses were running, which wasn't often), and lots of high water. caused by torrential rain. But thousands of women never got there. With a combination of bureaueratic paralysis and deliberate political suppression. the Chinese government managed to exclude many women whose views it found inconvenient.

Western diplomats estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 delegates had been shut out. Many never received hotel confirmations, without which they were not allowed to pick up their visas. "This is more than a bureaucratic accident," charged Bella Abzug, a former congresswoman from New York who was allowed to attend. "This is an intentional, indirect way to limit our numbers."

The Huairou conference was the one China didn't want, an eclectic gathering of nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs. The other meeting, which starts this week, is the official United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, a plum for the Chinese, who campaigned hard for the right to host it. That meeting starts on a happier note. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the U.S. delegation, reflecting a slight warming of relations between Washington and Beijing. Agreeing to disagree on the many issues that divide them -- human rights, nuclear testing, arms sales, the status of Taiwan--the United States and China were at least talking to each other again. Beijing promised to send back its ambassador, who was withdrawn two months ago when Washington allowed the president of Taiwan to make an unofficial visit. A summit was in the works for President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin, probably next month at the United Nations.

But there was nothing the Americans could do to get China to open its doors to all of the NGO women. "We can only cajole and plead," said a State Department official. China excluded the entire delegation from Niger, one of the few countries to have formal relations with Taiwan. More than 20 Taiwanese and Tibetan groups were denied access to the conference. American actresses Jane Fonda and Sally Field reportedly were unable to get visas.

Low turnout: So many delegates were kept away from the conference that many seminars and workshops had to be canceled for lack of participants. (The most popular discussion group appeared to be one on the O. J. Simpson case, held in a crowded tent.) The delegates who made it to Huairou found the Chinese imposing rules to restrict the expression of unwelcome opinions. Demonstrations were officially confined to an area grandly described as the "Parade Ground," an asphalt slab smaller than a basketball court.

But the women refused to be put in their place. One group showed a videotape about Tibet, and when Chinese security men seized the cassette, enraged members of the audience took it back by force and spirited it away. The opening keynote address was another videotape, brought into China by stealth, containing a message from Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese dissident who has stood up to a military regime that is fast friends with Beijing. "It is not the prerogative of men alone to bring light to this world," she told the delegates. Defying their Chinese overlords, nine exiled Tibetan women staged a protest in Huairou, their mouths gagged with scarves to represent the repression of their homeland. Dozens of delegates chanted their support. Posters appeared honoring Phuntsog Nyidron, a Tibetan Buddhist nun imprisoned for her support of the exiled Dalai Lama. WANTED; FREEDOM, it said--an idea China's leaders apparently could neither grasp nor stamp out.

PHOTO (COLOR): Beyond the confines of the official 'Parade Ground': Exiled Tibetan women wear gags to protest Beijing's repression of their homeland

~~~~~~~~

RUSSELL WATSON with KATHARINE CHUBBUCK in Huairou and CHARLES S. LEF, in Washington

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not long ago, one such protest in China was brutally shut down by the Chinese government. Once again, the world looked on as China provided another example of how it thwarts basic human rights.

The protest took place when the police of Weng An County released a suspect who had allegedly raped and murdered a teenage girl. It is believed that the suspect is a relative of a local police officer. The victim's relative went to the police station demanding justice; instead he was badly beaten by police. This then led hundreds of thousands of people to the street. But the official crackdown on this lawful protest spurred tragic violence.

And it is widely known that many such protests for basic rights are beaten back.

No matter how hard the Communist Party tries to cover up their crimes with all kinds of celebrations, its true brutality is constantly being revealed by the crackdowns on peaceful protests, a carte blanche to destroy citizen's homes, and a flouting of laws and trampling of rights. The party is dictatorial, squeezing people both economically and politically, like a criminal organization.

Enough is enough! Citizens must unite and utilize their own power. It only takes a few people to proclaim their rights, to encourage and awaken the rest of the country to those rights and lead the way.

The people in Weng An did the right thing to demand their rights. It is important that all people in China work against oppression, exploitation, and corruption and to fight for human rights and democracy.

But the way to gain the upper hand – and ultimate peace – is through nonviolent tactics. That is not just a moral principle, but a sound, successful strategy used by democracy and human rights activists around the world. And it would knock the government off guard.

The Communist Party is adept at violence, but their well-equipped police force is not necessarily strong at suppressing peaceful protests.

When citizens retaliate with violence, it only provides an excuse for government to crack down on the democracy movement, ultimately weakening citizen power. Nonviolence will put the party in a morally vulnerable position and soften it. Such a tactic will also help win over citizens who are hesitant to act against the government.

Nonviolence doesn't mean nonaction. There is the kind of nonviolence in which people refuse to cooperate or participate in any political activities with the government. Such active refusal speaks volumes. This action includes refusing to implement Communist policy or to give lukewarm attention to government. Or it can mean not participating in any government celebrations, communist festivals, communist TV or newspapers. It means staying away from any communist promotion of their "shining models," abandoning the communist jargon, and ignoring unconstitutional decrees.

Active nonviolence includes organizing prodemocracy movements, such as protests, sit-ins, school or factory strikes, fasting, seminars, open funerals for victims, gatherings in someone's honor, and refusal to pay evil taxes.

For active nonviolence, demonstrators need a tangible goal so that they can eventually pressure the Communist Party into a compromise.

But before that compromise comes, both passive and active nonviolence will likely result in more crackdowns and persecution.

The key to success is persistence.

Attempts at peaceful protests in China in the past, and an effort by the Dalai Lama to encourage peaceful demonstrations, are a strong foundation from which to work forward.

The best way to develop a protest movement is to use places such as schools, unions, associations, churches, or clubs to rally people. Chinese citizens can even create some new gathering points to draw activists.

Meanwhile, the more citizens utilize communication tools such as the Internet, the bigger the power base will be. By searching for information, we can find ways to get around Web firewalls and other obstacles to end isolation. Each addition to the cause will create a chain reaction and multiply citizen strength.

And it is important to recognize that the tragic death of Li Shufen, the teenager who was found in the river in China, should not go unnoticed. By persistent, nonviolent action we gain moral ground and protect our children from being the next victims.

Citizen power based on peaceful nonviolence will eventually conquer the power of the Communist Power. Let's start today.

Yang Jianli is founder of Initiatives for China, dedicated to empowering the citizens of China for a peaceful transition to a democratic China. A PhD, he is a research fellow at Harvard University and a former political prisoner in China.

from the July 8, 2008 edition

Boston - Chinese citizens have generally been a submissive people. What is extraordinary is that tens of thousands of protests are taking place in China every year.

Not long ago, one such protest in China was brutally shut down by the Chinese government. Once again, the world looked on as China provided another example of how it thwarts basic human rights.

The protest took place when the police of Weng An County released a suspect who had allegedly raped and murdered a teenage girl. It is believed that the suspect is a relative of a local police officer. The victim's relative went to the police station demanding justice; instead he was badly beaten by police. This then led hundreds of thousands of people to the street. But the official crackdown on this lawful protest spurred tragic violence.

And it is widely known that many such protests for basic rights are beaten back.

No matter how hard the Communist Party tries to cover up their crimes with all kinds of celebrations, its true brutality is constantly being revealed by the crackdowns on peaceful protests, a carte blanche to destroy citizen's homes, and a flouting of laws and trampling of rights. The party is dictatorial, squeezing people both economically and politically, like a criminal organization.

Enough is enough! Citizens must unite and utilize their own power. It only takes a few people to proclaim their rights, to encourage and awaken the rest of the country to those rights and lead the way.

The people in Weng An did the right thing to demand their rights. It is important that all people in China work against oppression, exploitation, and corruption and to fight for human rights and democracy.

But the way to gain the upper hand – and ultimate peace – is through nonviolent tactics. That is not just a moral principle, but a sound, successful strategy used by democracy and human rights activists around the world. And it would knock the government off guard.

The Communist Party is adept at violence, but their well-equipped police force is not necessarily strong at suppressing peaceful protests.

When citizens retaliate with violence, it only provides an excuse for government to crack down on the democracy movement, ultimately weakening citizen power. Nonviolence will put the party in a morally vulnerable position and soften it. Such a tactic will also help win over citizens who are hesitant to act against the government.

Nonviolence doesn't mean nonaction. There is the kind of nonviolence in which people refuse to cooperate or participate in any political activities with the government. Such active refusal speaks volumes. This action includes refusing to implement Communist policy or to give lukewarm attention to government. Or it can mean not participating in any government celebrations, communist festivals, communist TV or newspapers. It means staying away from any communist promotion of their "shining models," abandoning the communist jargon, and ignoring unconstitutional decrees.

Active nonviolence includes organizing prodemocracy movements, such as protests, sit-ins, school or factory strikes, fasting, seminars, open funerals for victims, gatherings in someone's honor, and refusal to pay evil taxes.

For active nonviolence, demonstrators need a tangible goal so that they can eventually pressure the Communist Party into a compromise.

But before that compromise comes, both passive and active nonviolence will likely result in more crackdowns and persecution.

The key to success is persistence.

Attempts at peaceful protests in China in the past, and an effort by the Dalai Lama to encourage peaceful demonstrations, are a strong foundation from which to work forward.

The best way to develop a protest movement is to use places such as schools, unions, associations, churches, or clubs to rally people. Chinese citizens can even create some new gathering points to draw activists.

Meanwhile, the more citizens utilize communication tools such as the Internet, the bigger the power base will be. By searching for information, we can find ways to get around Web firewalls and other obstacles to end isolation. Each addition to the cause will create a chain reaction and multiply citizen strength.

And it is important to recognize that the tragic death of Li Shufen, the teenager who was found in the river in China, should not go unnoticed. By persistent, nonviolent action we gain moral ground and protect our children from being the next victims.

Citizen power based on peaceful nonviolence will eventually conquer the power of the Communist Power. Let's start today.

Yang Jianli is founder of Initiatives for China, dedicated to empowering the citizens of China for a peaceful transition to a democratic China. A PhD, he is a research fellow at Harvard University and a former political prisoner in China.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0708/p09s02-coop.html

Her remark was not reported in official media, but led to criticism when it began to circulate on the web. While China's 58-year occupation of Tibet remains controversial abroad, most Chinese see Tibet as a part of their country and regard calls for its independence as intrusive and divisive.

One fan said it was "disrespectful" and "very selfish" to raise the issue while visiting China.

The Icelandic singer first dedicated Declare Independence to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which still have formal links to Denmark, and the song's video shows her in clothing bearing their flags. She dedicated the song to Kosovo while performing in Japan last month.

Its lyrics include: "Don't let them do that to you. Raise your flag!"

Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the London-based Free Tibet Movement, said it was delighted by her remarks, contrasting them with Gordon Brown and David Miliband's "shameful" decision not to raise the issue publicly on their recent visits to Beijing.

"Speaking out while in China has shown it is perfectly possible to make a high-profile visit and raise the ongoing plight of the Tibetan people," he said.

Björk's representatives could not be contacted for comment last night.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said last month: "Tibet has been an inseparable part of Chinese territories since ancient times, which is universally recognised by the international community."

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By JIM YARDLEY
Published: March 14, 2008

Correction Appended

BEIJING — Chinese security forces were reportedly surrounding three monasteries outside Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, on Thursday after hundreds of monks took to the streets this week in what are believed to be the largest Tibetan protests against Chinese rule in two decades.
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Crackdown in Tibet
Crackdown in Tibet

The turmoil in Lhasa occurred at a politically delicate time for China, which is facing increasing criticism over its human rights record as it prepares to play host to the Olympic Games in August and is seeking to appear harmonious to the outside world.

Beijing has kept a tight lid on dissent before the Games. But people with grievances against the governing Communist Party have tried to promote their causes when top officials may be wary of cracking down by using force.

Qin Gang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed Thursday that protests had erupted in Lhasa, but declined to provide details. He described the situation as stable.

“In the past couple of days, a few monks in Lhasa have made some disturbances in an effort to cause unrest,� Mr. Qin said Thursday at a news conference. “Thanks to the efforts of the local government and the democratic administration of the temples, the situation in Lhasa has been stabilized.�

Tibet was taken militarily by China in 1951 and has remained contentious, particularly because of the bitter relations between the Communist Party and the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Sporadic talks between China and the Dalai Lama’s representatives have produced no results, and Beijing continues to condemn him as a “splitist� determined to sever the region’s ties to China. The Dalai Lama has said that he accepts Chinese rule but that Tibetans need greater autonomy to practice their religion.

China plans to have the Olympic torch carried into Tibet over Mount Everest — a route that has brought protests from many Tibet advocacy groups. Fearing more demonstrations, officials said they would prohibit climbing on the north face of Everest until after the torch ceremony.

The defiance reported this week in Lhasa is highly unusual. Security is heavy there, and the penalty for protesting is harsh. News of the protests has been censored in the Chinese news media, and Beijing does not allow foreign journalists to travel to Lhasa without permission. But accounts from Tibetan advocacy groups, from the United States-financed Radio Free Asia and from tourists’ postings on the Internet suggest that protests emerged from three of the most famous monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism.

Robert Barnett, a Tibet specialist at Columbia University who has communicated with Tibetan exiles, said the initial incident occurred Monday when about 400 monks left Drepung Loseling Monastery intending to march five miles west to the city center. Police officers stopped the march at the halfway point and arrested 50 or 60 monks.

But Mr. Barnett said the remaining monks held the equivalent of a sit-down strike and were joined by an additional 100 monks from Drepung.

“They were demanding specific changes on religious restrictions in the monastery,� Mr. Barnett said. He said monks wanted the authorities to ease rules on “patriotic education� in which monks are required to study government propaganda and write denunciations of the Dalai Lama.

On Tuesday morning, the Drepung monks apparently agreed to return to the monastery.

But another protest was under way in the heart of the city, outside the Jokhang Temple, the most sacred temple in Tibet. About a dozen monks from the Sera Monastery staged a pro-independence demonstration, waving a Tibetan flag. Police officers arrested the monks. Foreign tourists posted video on the Internet of officers shooing onlookers away.

The arrests set off another protest on Tuesday. Witnesses told Radio Free Asia that 500 or 600 monks poured out of the Sera Monastery, about two miles north of the Jokhang Temple. They shouted slogans and demanded the release of their fellow monks.

“Free our people, or we won’t go back!� the monks chanted, Radio Free Asia reported. “We want an independent Tibet!�

Witnesses said the police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

A protest was reported on Wednesday at the Ganden Monastery, 35 miles east of Lhasa.

Radio Free Asia reported Thursday that two monks at Drepung had attempted suicide.

The protests were timed to coincide with the 49th anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibet uprising that forced the Dalai Lama to flee to India. Mr. Barnett said they were the largest in Lhasa since 1989, when protests by monks from Drepung and Sera led to a bloody clash with Chinese security forces.

He said he doubted that the protests were coordinated, though he said the small group of Sera monks arrested Monday must have anticipated a confrontation. Their photographs have already been forwarded to Tibetan exiles in India and posted on the Internet by groups that support independence for Tibet.

He said that Chinese troops seemed to be more restrained than in the past, even as the protesters took the bold step of waving the Tibetan flag.

The Olympics also have emboldened protesters outside China. Tibetan exiles in northern India who vowed this week to march to Lhasa over six months to protest China’s control of their homeland were arrested Thursday. They then began a hunger strike that they said would go on until they were released.

Heather Timmons contributed reporting from New Delhi.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 15, 2008
An article on Friday about Tibetan protests against Chinese rule referred incompletely to comments by Robert Barnett, a Tibet specialist at Columbia University, about the last major protests in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. Mr. Barnett pointed out that the protests continued into 1989; he did not say that they took place only in 1987 and 1988.

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It's tough being a hot-blooded nationalist in China these days. Your online rants about treacherous French hypermarkets get censored, and by the time you can organize a protest on the street, those protests aren't so welcome anymore.
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Since late last week the official press has been signaling that the recent outburst by Chinese bloggers outraged over anti-Chinese protests that have dogged the path of the Olympic torch must be wound down. Some Chinese have been calling for a boycott of the French retailer Carrefour, which has more than 100 outlets in China, after pro-Tibet protesters gave the torch a rough reception in Paris and the city council raised a banner on City Hall that read "Paris defends human rights all over the world."

In recent days the front pages of state-run newspapers carried stories saying the best way for citizens to defend their country's honor is to build the economy and warning that, in today's globalized world, boycotts usually backfire (most of the good on sale in Chinese Carrefour stores are produced locally). Even on the Chinese Internet, where nationalist sentiment has been free flowing, posts calling for consumer action against Carrefour and videos of protests have now been blocked.

Still, many are ignoring the government's call for calm. Beijing police on Saturday reportedly turned away a small group of demonstrators outside the French embassy. Carrefour stores in several mainland cities also saw large protests. Carrefour CEO Jose Luis Duran has been forced to deny accusations that his company has been a supporter of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

China's surge in public displays of patriotism — which has blossomed after the rocky reception of the Olympic torch in Europe and the U.S. — is a dilemma for Beijing. The government relies on patriotism to bolster its support now that socialism has disappeared as a unifying ideology. But expressions of strong nationalist sentiment can also lead to people protesting against the central government. "In crisis periods what often happens, and has happened throughout the 20th century, is that these foreign problems very quickly become domestic problems," says William Callahan, a China expert at the University of Manchester in the U.K. "People ask why the Chinese government isn't reacting more strongly to what is seen as foreign provocation."

China has experienced similar spasms of public outrage following the accidental bombing by the U.S. of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, and the collision of a Chinese fighter jet with a U.S. surveillance plane near Hainan Island in 2001. "What's different this year is how the people are much more involved," says Callahan. "I don't think this necessarily shows that it's a grassroots thing or a more genuine or more spontaneous thing. I think Chinese people have more access to express their opinion because of the rise of new media, blogs and bulletin boards and e-mail. What's happening is that Chinese people are recycling what they've been taught in school through patriotic education and also what they've been taught through China's broad-based propaganda campaigns."

But protests are occurring beyond China's borders. Overseas Chinese, whose patriotism in the past may have been dulled by distrust of the Communist Party, are also demonstrating in support of their motherland and the Beijing Olympics. In Los Angeles, thousands of ethnic Chinese gathered outside the offices of CNN Saturday to protest what they call media bias and remarks by network commentator Jack Cafferty, who recently called Chinese "goons and thugs." The network later said that his comments referred to the government of China, not its citizens.

The biggest risk for the Chinese government is that the protests simmer until the Beijing Summer Olympics begin in August. The authorities hope to show the world how China has changed in the three decades since Deng Xiaoping launched economic reforms. But it will be difficult to present a friendly, progressive face to the world if citizens are indulging in anti-foreign antics. "The world is shining a light on China in the year leading up to the Olympics," says Susan Shirk, a former deputy assistant Secretary of State during the Clinton administration and author of the book China: Fragile Superpower. "The timing is terrible." China has always feared embarrassing protests before the Games, but Beijing probably didn't expect them from its own patriotic citizens.

Could ordinary people use the same kind of wisdom – and courage – to check the impulse to fight wars today – over oil, water, or identity? Mahatma Gandhi thought so. He created teams of civilians called the Shanti Sena or "Army of Peace" and deployed them in various communities around India where they could avert communal riots and provide other peacekeeping services.

Over the past 25 years nonviolent peacekeepers have been going into zones of sometimes intense conflict with the aim of bringing a measure of peace, protection, and sanity to life there. Rather than use threat or force, unarmed peacekeepers deploy strategies of protective accompaniment, moral and/or witnessing "presence," monitoring election campaigns, creating neutral safe spaces, and in extreme cases putting themselves physically between hostile parties, as Buddha did with the angry kings in ancient India.

Civilian unarmed peacekeeping has had dramatic, small-scale, quiet, and unglamorous successes: rescuing child soldiers, protecting the lives of key human rights workers and of whole villages, averting potentially explosive violence, and generally raising the level of security felt by citizens in many a tense community.

Recently a village on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines was under threat by two armed groups who had come within 200 meters of each other. The village elders called for help from the Nonviolent Peaceforce stationed there, who intervened and by communicating with all sides persuaded the armed group to back away. Thanks to mediation, no violence erupted, no lives were lost.

Why haven't you heard about this exciting work? Because it is terribly underfunded, for one thing. There is also a prevailing prejudice that only governments or armed forces – including those of the United Nations – have the responsibility or means to contain conflict. While the UN Security Council has often authorized "all necessary means" to maintain peace and prevent violent conflict, in fact, the UN has not systematically considered large-scale civilian unarmed peacekeeping.

But the biggest obstacle by far is the widespread – and rarely examined – belief that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. It is the belief that there is only one kind of power; threat power, which in the end can be relied upon to get others to change their minds or, failing that, at least their actions.

That may change. The failures of war-fighting for peace, most notably now in Iraq, are getting ever more costly – of life, material, and our civil liberties.

The new global norm of "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P) should inspire the use of civil society and nonviolent means. While it includes military interventions, R2P is based on emerging international human security and human rights doctrine that aims to avert further failure by the international community to prevent and stop genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.

It may yet dawn on the world that these courageous nonviolent peacekeepers are not "unarmed;" they are armed with what Gandhi made bold to call "the greatest force mankind has been endowed with" – nonviolence.

Nonviolent Peaceforce is working to bring this kind of peacekeeping to greater prominence, with the goal of increasing its current 70 field team members to a cadre of 2,000 by 2012. For a recent deployment, Nonviolent Peaceforce had applicants hailing from 55 countries for every position available.

Well-trained unarmed civilians are saving lives and protecting communities under threat in some of the world's most violent places. They are growing. Recently the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue issued a study documenting how and why this type of "proactive presence" works.

People are ready for peaceful change and they're willing to dedicate their lives to create it. Civilian unarmed peacekeeping could be the way to recognize and help develop the vital protection role global civil society may credibly, effectively, and legitimately play in human security. For the benefit of children and women in armed conflict, for refugees, journalists, human rights defenders, peacefully protesting monks, aid workers, or election campaigners – for all of us. Because ultimately, none of us is secure until all of us are.

I gave the phone number of Liu Xiao-yuan, a human right lawyer to Mr. Pang hoping that Liu could give him more advice. However, within an hour, Mr. Pang was arrested.

Below is what he had written to me, an account of their petition experience in Beijing. I hope readers can help to spread the news on the Internet.
Parents failed to find their children and helplessly pay petition visit to higher authorities in Beijing

In recent year, there are countless number of children kidnap cases all over the country. Criminals are becoming more violent, organized, professional and international. In order to find our missing children, we traveled across the country and many of us are now in debts in addition to the tremendous emotional stress we have been suffering. Some of the parents have turned crazy and sick… Due to man-made factor (here, I don't want to attack our public security department), we have lost much time for saving our dear children. We could only file our case when our children found lost for 24 hours. Such regulation has provided the human traffickers time for their crime, reminding them to smuggle our children away within 24 hours. We have no choice but to seek help from higher authorities. Six months have passed and now it has been one year, parents are living in agony. Some parents were forced to give up due to all kinds of reason. In the process of searching for our children, parents with similar fate come together and share our bitter story. By chance, we came across an article about rescuing kidnapped children from Henan. We wonder how our Premier Wen got to know the case, and with his instruction, a 8 months hanging case was resolved within 8 days. The article gives us hope in seeking for our children. We believe that if Premier Wen knows about our situation, he can definitely help us to find our children. With this hope, we decided to visit Beijing together and hand in our petition to Premier Wen. In order to avoid having negative impact on our national image, we decided to petition on Sep 22, after the end of Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Displaying missing person poster at the Birdnest

In Sep 22, missing children parents from all over the country arrived at Beijing. We found a cheap hostel (a dungeon) to settle down. Some of them were sleeping in the Beijing railway station as they couldn't afford hostel spending. Later we decided to share the cost and let them stay in the hostel as well. We discussed and decided to display our missing person posters outside the Birdnest stadium. There were in total more than 40 parents coming from 10 provinces. On the day, all of us gathered outside the magnificent building which all Chinese people are so proud of. However, we didn't have the mood to take a good look of this Birdnest. We walked to the east gate where there were more people around and displayed our missing children posters on the spot. We wanted more people to know what happened to us and remind people to protect their children from traffickers. Many people felt sympathy with us, some even bought us water. Some parents became emotional and voiced their grievances to pedestrians. A university student approached us and wanted to help us to spread the news. An American reporter proposed to interview us, but we rejected the interview as we felt that this is a Chinese matter and should be dealt with by Chinese government. Moreover, we didn't want to internationalize the issue. We decided to collect our posters and seek help from Chinese media — CCTV.

About 30,000 people march in Manila calling for the President's impeachment and resignation.

Manila (AsiaNews) Around 30,000 people have marched in the Filipino capital of Manila, calling on President Gloria Arroyo to quit.

Ms Arroyo faces allegations that she is involved in scandals tied to the gambling world.

Renato Reyes, one of the organisers of the march, said that "it is clear what people want: the President's immediate resignation".

He explained that the anti-Arroyo forces have raised 25 million Filipino pesos (about US$ 450,000) to get "a million people into the streets by Saturday".

The Bishops' Conference of the Philippines after a recent meeting released a statement distanced itself from the ongoing situation.

The organisation is known for its internal divisions as clearly shown by the contradictory views of bishops calling for Ms Arroyo's immediate resignation.

Despite this, the prelates agree that an impartial commission must be set up to investigate allegations of corruption made against the President.

The Armed Forces have by contrast reiterated their absolute neutrality even though AsiaNews sources in Manila have spoken of "massive military presence in the streets of the capital".

Army officials have declared that the deployment of troops is designed to prevent "infiltrations" among the people taking part in the rally, i.e. Islamic rebels of Communist insurgents.

This type of article really inspires me to try to change policy. This is a unique form of non violent action. Warning this story is not for the faint of heart. View at your own discretion. I would post a picture but I dont know how. Yeah can somebody help me with that anyway.

I really want to see some blog feedback on this one so please let us discuss this one. Tell me what you think. for some time I have been researching this topic.

LEts Blog amigos and amigas!

Peaceful Protest Against Japan's Dolphin Drive Hunts

Japanese embassy location

Japan Dolphin Day, Wednesday, September 3, 2008

JAPAN DOLPHIN DAY

A peaceful protest to stop the largest remaining dolphin slaughter in the world at the Japanese Consulate, a worldwide protest against Japan's killing of over 22,000 dolphins.
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Japan Dolphin Day, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd:

To protest the slaughter and speak out against mercury poisoning.
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WHERE: Japanese Consulate office. 601 Union Street, Suite 500, Seattle, Washington 98101

WHEN: 12:00pm (NOON), WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd.

WHAT: An international day of protest will be held on September 3rd to call on the Japanese authorities to ban the brutal slaughter of dolphins, porpoises, and other small whales.

Orca Network and others will be at the Japanese Consulate in downtown Seattle for the protest. You are welcome to make up your own signs and banners to let people know what the protest is about. Please use non-threatening language. Please stay on the public sidewalk in front of the building. If you want, bring a red flower to lay at the edge of the sidewalk to represent the blood of the dolphins slaughtered by Japan.

WHY: On Japan Dolphin Day, September 3, 2008, Seattle will be one of many cities participating in a global protest to call for an end to the needless killing of dolphins and porpoises off the eastern coast of Japan. In spite of the international outcry against it, the Japanese government still condones the largest remaining dolphin slaughter in the world.

Most of the Japanese people do not know this slaughter takes place due to a media blackout in Japan about this horrific event.

The Japanese government is knowingly exposing their people to toxic levels of mercury in the dolphin meat that is consumed. Mercury causes severe birth defects and brain damage. Japanese officials are forcing children to eat mercury-contaminated dolphin meat in school lunches. Not only the dolphins, but the innocent children of Japan need our help.

The dolphin drive hunts destroy defenseless, highly intelligent, self-aware mammals in the most brutal way imaginable. These socially complex mammals witness the screaming slaughter of their close family group in a sea turned red with blood, but won't abandon their pod. Some of the survivors are captured and sold to dolphin traders. These dolphins are then transported off to live the rest of their lives confined in pools as "entertainment" in captive swim programs and dolphinariums. The hunts would not be economically viable without the sale of these live dolphins to unscrupulous dolphinariums. The killing of defenseless dolphins and other small whales by the Japanese drive hunts is condemned internationally by many scientific and conservation organizations.

Help us send a powerful message to the Japanese dolphin hunters and their government: STOP THE DOLPHIN SLAUGHTER NOW. STOP EXPOSING YOUR PEOPLE TO MERCURY. We need to let them know that these crimes against nature are unacceptable to the rest of the world.

For more information about the dolphin drive fisheries, their connection to the captive display industry, and toxic mercury exposures in Japanese children at: Save Japan Dolphins

Orca Network
www.orcanetwork.org
(360) 678-3451
1-866-ORCANET
Nancy Morris (206) 533-6155

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" -- Margaret Mead

Every year more than 20,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises are hunted and killed by Japan. This includes around 16,000 Dall’s porpoises killed in hand harpoon hunts.

Over 1,000 dolphins are killed each year in dolphin drive hunts in Japan. Pods of tens or hundreds of dolphins are driven into shallow coves and butchered in the most brutal way imaginable for their meat, which is sold for human consumption, often mis-labelled as 'whale meat.' Between October 2004 and March 2005, 1,165 dolphins were slaughtered in drive fisheries.

Unscrupulous dolphinariums financially support the hunts by buying live dolphins - usually young females - from the fisherman to be used for captive display. These animals witness the screaming slaughter of their close family group, in a sea turned red with blood, before being transported off to live the rest of their lives confined in pools as ‘entertainment’. Between October 2003 and March 2004, 78 dolphins were captured during the drive hunts and sold to dolphinaria.

Click on the link at the bottom of the page to find out more about the dolphin drive fisheries and their connection to the captive display industry.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO STOP THIS

Orca Network has joined a group of over 55 organisations around the world who are opposed to this slaughter. All the groups are supporting a day of peaceful protest in cities around the world, including London, Paris, Washington DC, New York and Brussels, to let the Japanese Government know that dolphin drive hunts are simply not acceptable to the international community.

The protests will take place outside Japanese embassies around the world on September 25th; after the drive hunt season in Japan begins.

Please join us on the day and help us make a stand against this senseless slaughter!